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The Scot in America
Early Colonial Governors


ONE of the most interesting figures in the military service of King William III. and of Queen Anne was Lord George Hamilton Douglas, son of Duchess Anne of Hamilton and her husband, William, Earl of Selkirk, who was created Duke of Hamilton at her request. Lord George was born in 1666 and was bred a soldier. In 1690 he was made a Colonel and two years later was in command of the Royal Scots Regiment. His skill and bravery in the field, in Ireland and Flanders, commended him to King William, who awarded him the rank of Brigadier General, and in 1696 conferred on him the old Scotch title of Earl of Orkney. To complete his happiness, the King gave the wife of the new peer a grant of most of the private estates in Ireland of King James II. Queen Anne was profuse in her favors to the Earl of Orkney, who served with distinction in her wars, under Marlborough, and helped very materially to win such victories as Blenheim, Ramillies, and Oudenarde. She commissioned him a Lieutenant General, made him a Privy Councillor, a Knight of the Thistle, and he was one of the peers of Scotland who were returned to Parliament after the Union. King George I. continued the series of royal favors which marked the career of this favorite of fortune. He appointed him a "Gentleman Extraordinary" of the Bedchamber, an honorary office which gave the Earl a position at Court; Governor of Edinburgh Castle, Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire, a Field Marshal, and he died at London in 1737, in possession of all his faculties and honors.

Another of the honorary offices held by this much favored individual was that of Governor of Virginia. The Earl of Orkney never saw America and knew nothing of Virginia except its name, and probably cared little about it except for the emoluments his office as its Governor brought him. Such titular honors were very numerous in the history of the royal families of Europe, and America since its discovery has furnished a goodly share of them. If Lord Orkney did Virginia no good, he certainly did it no harm, and that, at all events, is more than can he said of many of those who tried their hands at serious statesmanship by muddling and marring its affairs. Isis possession of the office gives him a sort of left-handed claim to recognition in a work like this, although he more properly belongs to the story of the Scot in Europe, in which, indeed, his achievements and honors make him a striking figure. Hardly as much can be said of a later Governor of Virginia, whose connection with the province was also merely titular, and who never saw it, although he served with the army in America. That was John Campbell, fourth Earl of Loudoun, whose rather inglorious military career in America, as commander in chief of the forces, lasted a little over a year, and was terminated by his sudden recall. He was appointed Governor in 1756, but his time in America was devoted entirely to his military duties. His transatlantic failure did not apparently affect his standing at home, and he continued the recipient of many honors until his death, in 1782.

William Drummond, who was Governor of "Albemarle County Colony," was as active and aggressive in American affairs as the two Personages just named were not. Drummond, who was a native of Perthshire, justly ranks as one of the earliest of American patriots. He took a prominent part in 'Nathaniel Bacon's insurrection in 1676, an insurrection that was brought about by the insolence and pig-headedness of Sir William Berkeley, then Governor of Virginia, to which Albemarle County (North Carolina) was subject. Drummond, who is described by Bancroft as a "former Governor of North Carolina," did good work in that uprising in supporting the rights of the people, and, though he has been blamed for the part he took in the burning of Jamestown, it might be pleaded that that act was, in the opinion of himself and his comrades, a grins necessity of wear. When the insurrection was crushed by circumstances which could not be foreseen, and Drummond was led a prisoner to the presence of Berkeley, that cowardly braggadocio said, exultingly: "You are very welcome. I am more glad to see you than any man in Virginia. You shall be hanged in half an hour." Glorifying in the part he had taken in the movement for individual liberty, Drummond met his fate like the brave man that he was, his only concern being about the future of his wife and children. So many lives were sacrificed in furtherance of the Governor's desire for revenge that even Charles II., who really valued no life but his own, exclaimed when the news was brought to him: "The old fool has taken away more lives in that naked country than I for the murder of my father! " Drummond's wife and little ones were thrust from their home and reduced to actual want, their necessities being relieved only by the charitable kindness of the neighboring planters.

The most notable of the Scottish Colonial rulers of Virginia in many ways was Alexander Spottiswood, who served as Lieutenant Governor from 1710 to 1722. He was a scion of a noted family—the Spottiswoods of Spottiswood in Berwickshire, the descent of which could be traced lack to the time of Alexander III. One of his ancestors fell at Flodden, and another at the time of the Reformation adopted the new tenets, became one of the leaders of the Kirk, was Superintendent (a title that did not exactly mean Bishop, but rather something like foreman minister,) of Lothian, and was very prominent in national and church affairs until a few years before his death, in 1581. The Superintendent's son became Archbishop of St. Andrews. The Archbishop's second son, Sir Robert Spottiswood, President of the Court of Sessions and Secretary of State for Scotland, was beheaded for his devotion to the cause of the royal family of Stuart. One of the sons of this unfortunate statesman left Scotland to seek his fortune, and became physician to the garrison at Tangiers. Governor Spottiswood was the only son of this wanderer. Spottiswood entered the army in early life, and served in Flanders under Marlborough, with the utmost credit. He was severely wounded at Blenheim. Among his friends in the army was the Earl of Orkney, with whose name we opened this chapter, and when that nobleman was appointed Governor of Virginia he secured the selection of Spottiswood as Lieutenant. He proved a wise ruler in his executive relations, and probably was the most popular of all the representatives of the crown who ever administered the affairs of the province. His first act, that of promulgating the Habeas corpus law, was in itself an opening wedge to a term of popularity, and he availed himself of it to the utmost. He conciliated the red men and tried to improve their condition. He promoted education, and was enthusiastic over the fortunes of the recently established William and Mary College. He had considerable thought to agricultural improvement, and was especially anxious and helpful in improving the cultivation of tobacco, at that time Virginia's great export and principal source of wealth. He also introduced the manufacture of iron into the province, and sought by the aid of exploring parties to give to the world a correct conception of its resources and extent. Under him Virginia enjoyed a period of great prosperity, and its importance in every way was greatly augmented. Had all the Colonial Governors been men of his stamp and brains there would have been no Revolution, for the need would never have arisen.

Perhaps the secret of Governor Spottiswood's success lay in the fact that he seems to have made up his mind to settle permanently in the country. He was not a carpet-bagger in the modern sense, or a gentleman adventurer, as that term was employed in the reign of good Queen Anne. He aimed to promote the best interests of the country, to preserve the peace within its bounds by conciliating all classes, by encouraging trade, and by protecting to the extent of his ability life, property, and personal liberty. He was a true patriot, and a true American citizen, and as his home was with the people he ruled, he had no temptation to grow rich at their expense, that he might go elsewhere and have no further interest in the colony beyond the agreeable fancies of pleasant reminiscences.

In many respects a Lieutenant Governor of a very different stamp was Robert Dinwiddie, who ruled over the destinies of Virginia from 1752 to 1758. He was born near Glasgow in 1690, his father being a merchant in that city, and his mother the daughter of one of its magistrates. Dinwiddie has often been spoken of as the discoverer of George Washington, as he was the first to call the "Father of his Country" into the public service, but if he ever entertained any regard for Washington it did not last very long. The time during which Dinwiddie stood at the helm in Virginia was one that required the exhibition of the most statesmanlike qualities, and these Dinwiddie does not seem to have possessed. His mind was not of the comprehensive order; he could not look beyond the exigencies of the hour; he was fretful and spiteful, and more fond of exhibiting the powers than the graces of his office. Washington Irving sums up his character in these stinging words, which seem to be a logical arraignment of his shortcomings if we may judge by the known facts in his career: "He set sail for England in 1758, very little regretted, excepting by his immediate hangers-on, and leaving a character overshadowed by the imputation of avarice and extortion in the exaction of illegal fees and of downright delinquency in regard to large sums transmitted to him by Government to be paid over to the province in indemnification of its extra expenses, for the disposition of which he failed to render an account. He was evidently a sordid, narrow-minded, and somewhat arrogant man; bustling rather than active; prone to meddle, with matters of which he was profoundly ignorant, and absurdly unwilling to have his ignorance enlightened." It seems a pity for the sake of Dinwiddie's good name that he had not remained in Glasgow and become a merchant, possibly a deacon, like his father and a bailie like his maternal grandfather.

One of the titled Governors of Virginia who was much more than a mere nonentity was John, fourth Earl of Dunmore. His family was an offshoot of the ducal one of Athol. He was destined for a military career, but was poor and unable to add much to his wealth by the chance of war, while his wife, though a slaughter of the ancient house of Galloway, did not bring him any very tangible accession to his worldly goods. \When, therefore, he received the appointment, in 1770, of Governor of Yew York, he gladly accepted it, because he saw in the appointment a chance of increasing his personal resources. In short, he crossed over to America simply to make as much money as he could out of it, and without much concern as to whether or not the country was to be benefited by his services. It was, however, a period demanding the utmost tact and diplomacy, qualities Lord Dunmore either did not possess, or did not deem it worth his while, when he had the chance, to exhibit; and in these facts lie the causes for his ignoble American career, and the poltroonery, the crime, the silliness by which it was most distinguished. The Revolutionary movement at the time of Lord Dunmore's arrival in America was approaching a crisis. Discontent was in the air, uneasiness was prevalent everywhere. But the Virginians were then loyal to the crown, and a wise Governor should have strengthened that loyalty by every means in his power, instead of acting in a manner, as Lord Dunmore did, to deepen the discontent, to fan the flames of sedition and to drive the people into open revolt. Had his Lordship really been a statesman he had the opportunity while in America of doing yeoman service for his sovereign, but his actions while in the country failed to exhibit any signs of his possession of that quality. He was for self first, last, and all the time, and when Virginia was too hot to hold him—he ran away.

While in New York Lord Dunmore was very popular, for his term of service did not last long enough to bring any of his ignoble qualities to the front, but he seems to have attended strictly to his "ain" business and acquired some 50,000 acres of land in the State. He was transferred to the much more valuable post of Virginia in less than a year, and was heartily welcomed on his arrival in his new sphere of usefulness. His first act bound him closely to the hearts of the Virginians, for he indorsed cordially their remonstrances to the Home Government against the continuation of the slave trade. This popularity continued for two or three years, during which time he waxed rich in land and fees and concealed his personal schemes with the utmost craft. In 1774, when he was joined by his Countess, the Assembly presented her with an address of welcome, and got up a grand ball in her honor. When her daughter was born she named it Virginia in honor of a province which had so warmly welcomed her. A year later the poor woman was glad to take refuge on a British vessel, as she considered her life in danger at the hands of these same Virginians. Loral Dunmore's troubles came on him all in a heap. He had had a little war with the red men, and had conducted it so successfully and had brought about such a favorable peace that the Legislature gave him a sort of vote of confidence, in which his management of affairs was spoken of as " truly noble, wise, and spirited." his agents, however, were out trying to annex lands, and win fees, as far West as Cincinnati, and some even operated on the soil of Pennsylvania, inviting trouble and complaint from that quarter. Then, when the troubles with the home country were elsewhere approaching a crisis, he precipitated the outbreak in Virginia by seizing the powder stored in Williamsburg, by his arrogant manner, by his threatening to arm the negroes and the Indians against the white residents, and by several other unwise sayings and doings. It is not to he wondered at that Lady Dunmore was soon joined on the vessel in which she had taken refuge by her husband, himself a fugitive, and that Virginia quickly threw off her allegiance and ranged herself on the side of the Revolutionists. The rest of Dunmore's American story is equally contemptible. His wanton destruction of Norfolk cannot be defended on grounds either of military necessity or the demands of statesmanship, and when he finally returned to Britain, it was with anything but the record of a hero. But his prestige does not appear to have suffered, although it might truly be said that his foolishness and personal greed had lost Britain a province. He continued to be elected to Parliament by his brother peers of Scotland, and in 1787 he was sent to the Bahamas as Captain General and Governor, and there resided, an inoffensive figurehead, for several years before he returned home again to adorn society until his death, in 1806.

It is refreshing to turn from such a personage to recall the nobler career of George Johnstone, who was nominated in 1763 Governor of Florida, when that colony was ceded by Spain to Great Britain. Johnstone, who belonged to the family of Johnstone of Westerhall, was a Captain in the Royal Navy, a hero in every sense of the word, and a capable man of affairs, as was abundantly proved by his course in Florida, and his career in Parliament. In 1778 he was one of the Commissioners sent out by the British Government to try and restore peace in America, and was noted as being outspoken in his sympathy with the American people, and in his condemnation of the wrongs which had driven them into revolt. But events had by that time progressed so far that peace could only be procured through independence or annihilation, and so the commission accomplished no practical result, but Johnstone, by a curious turn in his thoughts and sympathies, then changed his ideas of the American people and thenceforth was among their bitterest detractors. Gov. Johnstone's term of office is additionally interesting in that it was the means of bringing James Macpherson, the translator of Ossian, to the country, although only for a short time. In Mr. Bailey Saunders's interesting monograph on that literary hero, we read: "In October (1763) one George Johnstone was gazetted Governor of the Western Provinces and ordered to Pensacola. Like most of the other American Governors, Johnstone was a Scotchman. Macpherson was offered an appointment as his secretary, and, in addition, the posts of President of the Council and Surveyor General. It was a strange shift in the breeze of his fortune, and of the reasons which led him to yield to it we have no knowledge. He may have resented the treatment which he was receiving from men of letters in London, or he may have found himself in pecuniary or other difficulties. Certain it is, that in the early part of the following year, he set his sails for America. He was absent about two years, but only a portion of that time was spent at Pensacola, for he soon quarrelled with his chief and departed on a visit to some of the other provinces. After a tour in the West Indies he returned in 1766. As Surveyor General, he had received a salary of £900 a year. In a day when pensions formed a larger part of the machinery of the State than at present, Macpherson was allowed to retain it for life on the condition, so far as can be gathered, that he should devote himself henceforth to political writing." America seems, however, to have made little impression on the hero of the Ossianic controversy, if we may estimate the extent of that impression by his silence.

A notable and lovable, and, in every way commendable, career was that of Gabriel Johnston, who was Governor of North Carolina from 1734 till his death, in Chowan County, in that State, in 1752. Little is known of his early career in Scotland except that he was born there in 1699 and that he studied medicine at St. Andrews University, but he had a predilection for the study of languages and never practiced. Instead, he became Professor of Oriental Languages at St. Andrews, and taught for several years. Then he removed to London and became a literary hack, his most notable employment being under Lord Bolingbroke on the latter's periodical, "The Craftsman." Johnston crossed the Atlantic in 1730, intending to settle in America, and three years later, through the influence of the Earl of Wilmington, he was appointed Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina, and showed his gratitude, among other ways, by naming; the town of Wilmington after his benefactor. Johnston's life here was one of peacefulness. His administration was in every way wise and beneficent, and, although even in his time there were murmurs against the Home Government, he kept his charge well in hand and thoroughly loyal to the Crown. One of his first acts as Governor was to urge upon the Colonial Assembly the need of making provision for a thorough school system, and in educational matters he took a deep personal interest to the end. It was during his administration, too, that the great influx of Scotch Highlanders took place into North Carolina. Thousands of these people settled in the Counties of Bladen, Cumberland, Robeson, Moore, Richmond, and Hamet, among others, and their descendants predominate in these sections till the present clay. At Gov. Gabriel's suggestion, his brother, John Johnston, crossed to America from Dundee in 1736, and settled in North Carolina. Among the rest of this man's family was a child who had been born in Dundee three years before. This was Samuel Johnston, afterward a noted figure in the history of the State. At the Governor's suggestion, Samuel studied for the bar, and in a short time after he had passed was in possession of a large practice. When he grew to manhood he knew no other country except that in which he had been raised, and was one of the earliest to earn the title of patriot. When the troubles with the mother country began to take practical shape, Samuel Johnston was one of the trusted leaders of the Americans in the State. In 1775 he was elected Chairman of the Provincial Council, and as such, by force of circumstances, which need not be enlarged upon here, virtually Governor of the State. Bancroft says of him at this juncture: " On the waters of Albemarle Sound * * * the movement for freedom, or at least a removal of oppression] was assisted by the writings of young James Iredell, from England, by the letters and counsels of young Joseph Hewes, and by the calm wisdom of Samuel Johnston, a native of Dundee, in Scotland, a man revered for his integrity, thoroughly opposed to disorder and revolution, if revolution could be avoided without yielding to oppression." When the die was finally cast and absolute separation from the mother country was demanded, Johnston did not flinch, but cast in his lot with those who demanded independence. He was a member of the Continental Congress in 1781 and 1782, was elected Governor of his State in 1788, served four years in the Senate of the United States, and from 1800 to 1803 was a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He closed his long, useful, and patriotic career at Edenton, North Carolina, in 1816, and his memory is yet one of the greenest in that beautiful State.

Besides furnishing in these later days a popular Governor General to the Dominion of Canada, in the person of the Marquis of Lorne, the house of Argyll has given at least two Governors to territories south of the St. Lawrence. One of these was Lord William Campbell, youngest son of the fourth Duke of Argyll. He served in the Royal Navy and held the rank of Captain when, in 1766, he was appointed Governor of Nova Scotia. He arrived at Halifax on Nov. 27 of that year, and at once assumed control of affairs. He proved a satisfactory, if not a brilliant administrator and enjoyed the confidence of the people. He faithfully carried their representations to the Home Government and preserved the relations of the colony to the mother country unimpaired. He was watchful over the morals of the people, too, and in one of his orders he peremptorily forbade public horse racing at Halifax on account of its tending to "gambling, idleness, and immorality." In 1763 he married Sarah Izard, belonging to a wealthy South Carolina family, and sister of that Ralph Izard who became distinguished as an American patriot, as a warm friend and unwavering supporter of Washington, and as the first representative of South Carolina in the United States Senate. It was his union with this lady that led, in one way or another, to his receiving the appointment, in 1775, of Governor of South Carolina, and thither he removed in that year. Before he left Nova Scotia he was presented with an address of thanks from the Legislature, extolling his career as Governor and regretting that circumstances should sever their pleasant relations. Lord William was probably not very long at his new sphere of duty ere he joined in that regret. The Commonwealth was really in a state of rebellion when Lord William arrived, and the address which the Provincial Council addressed to him on that occasion must have sounded strange in his ears. "No lust of independence," it said, "has the least influence upon our councils; no subjects more sincerely desire to testify their loyalty and affection. We deplore the measures which, if persisted in, must rend the British Empire. Trusting the event to Providence, we prefer death to slavery." What was wanted in such a crisis was a policy of conciliation, an exhibition of statesmanship. Lord William tried an opposite policy and appears to have been utterly destitute of the necessary qualities to guide a statesman in a storm. His supercilious contempt for the claims and opinions of the Carolinians helped only to embitter them still more. HeI-ic held out no hope of relief or remedy in connection with the wrongs which had driven them to take the stand they did. In place of trying to adjust these wrongs, to soften the people's thoughts, to induce them to reason with him, he contented himself with indulging in threats. "I warn you," he foolishly said to the Legislature, "of the danger you are in; the violent measures adopted cannot fail of drawing down inevitable ruin on this flourishing colony." His value as a statesman in a crisis may be judged from the fact that he was unable to grasp the meaning of the American troubles or the extent of the feeling in the hearts of the people. "Three regiments, a proper detachment of artillery, with a couple of good frigates, some small craft, and a bombketch would do the whole business here and go a great way to reduce Georgia and North Carolina to a sense of their duty. Charleston is the fountain head from whence all violence flows; stop that, and the rebellion in this part of the continent will soon be at an end." It was not long after writing this rigmarole that Lord William had to take refuge on a small British warship, "The Tamer," and to leave the affairs of his province to be managed by its people. After a vain attempt to overawe the Colonists by a show of resistance from the water, he passed from American view, to reappear again about a year later in an unsuccessful naval attack on Charleston Harbor, and in that engagement he was mortally wounded. Like most of his race, he was a brave man, but he really had little administrative ability. In the loyal quietness of Nova Scotia he did well enough, but when he became a prominent figure in "the time that tried men's souls," he was a distressing failure. At the moment he assumed its government, South Carolina, says Bancroft, "needed more than ever a man of prudence at the head of the administration, and its new Governor owed his place only to his birth."

New Jersey in the Colonial (lays was a favorite settling place for Scotch refugees, and, naturally, for Scotch Governors. Many of the Presbyterian exiles sought the liberty of conscience which was denied them at home in its then wild but fruitful territories, and among the early "proprietors" we find the names of many Scotch noblemen and official dignitaries, and it was after one of them, an Earl of Perth, that the once great rival of New York, Perth Amboy, was named. The Quakers, too, began to see in it a place where their doctrines could be lived up to without molestation, and one of the most famous of their number, Robert Barclay of Ury, was appointed Governor of East Jersey in 1682. Barclay, author of the still classic "Apology for the Quakers," never visited his territory; but, nevertheless, his influence in it was great, and while Quaker influence predominated—a period of about twenty years—the colony enjoyed wonderful prosperity. Barclay appointed as his deputy Gavin Laurie, a native of Edinburgh, a plan of peace, who devoted himself to developing the resources of his charge, and the comfort and well-being of its people. He was a good ruler, and as much may be said of Alexander Skene, another Quaker Governor, a native of Aberdeen.

Lord Neil Campbell, son of the ninth Earl of Argyll, visited New Jersey as its Governor in 1687, having previously bought, or secured in some way, the lands of Sir George Mackenzie—the "Bluidy Mackenzie" of the Covenanters. Lord :Neil, however, staved little longer than to see some of the land over which he was thus nominally ruler, and does not appear to have meddled with its affairs in any way. His deputy, Andrew Hamilton, made up in practical work for his lordship's qualities of nonentity. Hamilton was born at Edinburgh about 1627, and for a time was a merchant in that city. He was sent to New Jersey as agent for the Scotch "proprietors," and on Lord Neil Campbell's departure became acting Governor. He was an aggressive sort of personage, and his official career was rather a stormy one, but he did good service to the young country. He was the first to organize a postal service in the Colonies, having obtained a patent for a postal scheme from the Crown in 1694. Gov. Andrew Hamilton died at Burlington, New Jersey, in 1703. His son John, who died at Perth Amboy in 1746, was also for a time acting Governor of New Jersey, and his grandson, James, was the first native-born Governor of Pennsylvania.

Another Governor of Pennsylvania of Scotch descent was Thomas McKean, who entered public life as a Deputy Attorney General in 1756, and retired in i8og, having in the intervening years held almost every office in the gift of the people, in State Legislature, in Congress, in the field as a soldier, on the bench as Chief Justice of Pennsylvania for twenty years, and as Governor of the State for nine years. He enjoyed a rare record for a career of usefulness, in the course of which he exhibited the highest qualities of an orator, a jurist, and an executive. He was proud of his descent from Scotch forbears, and showed his pride publicly in 1792, when he joined the ranks of the Philadelphia St. Andrew's Society.

The most notable of the Scotch Governors of Pennsylvania, however, was Sir William Keith, who was born at Peterhead in 1680, and was the son of Sir William Keith. He was Governor from 1717 till 1726, but left behind him a record for vanity, intrigue and misgovernment, all of which, however, occupies so large a space in the early history of Pennsylvania as not to need recital here. Keith was a man of the world. He lived for self and his life was a failure, for he died in London in 1749, while a prisoner for debt, in the Old Bailey.

New York hart its full quota of Scottish Governors. The first of them in point of time, and in many was the most distinguished, was Major Gen. Robert Hunter, grandson of Patrick Hunter, of Hunterston, Ayrshire, the head of an ancient family. Robert Hunter was born at Hunterston and commenced life as a soldier. In 1707 he was commissioned Governor of Virginia and started out to take possession of his political prize, but on the voyage the ship in which he was a passenger was captured by a French vessel, and the budding Governor was carried to Paris, a prisoner of war. He never saw Virginia, and his appointment to the high office of its chief Executive has been doubted, but his commission is still extant and carefully preserved among the curiosities of the Historical Society of Virginia.

Gen. Hunter's real American experience commenced in June, 1710, when he entered upon his duties as Governor of New York. He accepted the appointment with the primal view of adding to his fortune, but he had a conscience that prevented him from seeking to increase his wealth by means which were in direct variance to the welfare of the community among whom his lot was cast. After being about a year in his office he saw that the development of the colony could only be hastened by adding to its population by means of immigration, and, having conceived a scheme about the manufacture of naval stores by which he might enrich himself, he proceeded to develop the resources of the country and increase his own wealth by the introduction of some 3,000 German laborers from the Palatinate. These people were settled on the banks of the Hudson River, mainly on lands belonging to the Livingstons, and were to produce tar and turpentine. Their passage money was to be repaid out of their earnings, and on the same terms they were to be supplied at first with the necessaries of life. As might be expected, the scheme was a failure. The immigrants were virtually contract slaves and were soon so dissatisfied with their lot that they refused to work, and, when he washed his hands of the affair and left the immigrants to shift for themselves, the Governor was crippled financially very seriously. His greatest claim to remembrance is his establishing of a complete Court of Chancery in the colony, and, although he doubtless saw in such a court a rich harvest of fees and opportunities for patronage, the good accomplished by a tribunal of that description, especially in a developing colony, where new and intricate questions were daily demanding decisions—decisions which were for all time to rank as precedents—should not be ignored. In many ways Gov. Hunter was a model ruler. In questions of religion he was extremely tolerant, and he believed in every man being permitted to worship as he thought best. He indulged in no wildcat schemes and encouraged no extravagant outlay of public money. He understood the art of managing men and was on equally good terms with all the parties in the colony. Very popular he was not, and never could he, for he represented a sovereign power in the person of the King, while all round him in New York was developing the theory that the source of all power, even the power to name Governors and Judges, should be the people concerned. Still he preserved intact the supremacy of his royal master and maintained peace or harmony in the colony, although he foresaw very clearly that a struggle between the two was certain sooner or later. "The Colonies are infants at their mother's breast," he wrote to Lord Bolingbroke, then British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, "but such as will wean themselves when they become of age."

When Gov. Hunter retired from the Colony, in 1719, the Assembly gave him an address in which they lauded his administration of affairs and expressed the Opinion that he had "governed well and wisely, like a prudent magistrate; like an affectionate parent." This praise seems to have been thoroughly well deserved, and even American writers acknowledge that his official record was not only an able, but a clean one. He was possessed of more than ordinary talent, was a warm friend of such men as Addison, St. John, Steele, Shaftesbury, and especially of Dean Swift, who appears to have entertained for him as undoubted sentiments of respect and friendship as he entertained for any man. "Hunter," wrote John Forster, in his unfinished life of the great Dean of St. Patrick's, "was among the most scholarly and entertaining of his (Swift's) correspondents; some of Swift's own best letters were written to this friend, and the judgment he had formed of him may be taken from the fact that when all the world was giving to himself the authorship of Shaftesbury's anonymously printed 'Letter on Enthusiasm,' Swift believed Hunter to have written it."

Gov. Hunter married the widow of an old companion in arms in the Marlborough campaigns, Lord John Hay, son of the second Marcquis of Tweeddale, and Colonel of the Scots Greys. She was the daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Orby, a Lincolnshire Baronet, and brought him considerable wealth. He, however, continued in official harness to the last and died at Jamaica in 1734, while holding the post of Governor of that island, one of the plums of the then colonial service.

Gov. Hunter's successor in New York was also a Scotsman—William Burnet. This amiable man was the son of the famous Bishop Burnet, and grandson of Robert Burnet of Crimond, one of the Scotch Lords of Session. William Burnet was educated at Cambridge and admitted to the practice of the law. He appears to have been fairly successful, but lost all his means in the South Sea bubble, and, finding himself ruined, looked around so that he might use his great family influence to secure for him a colonial appointment. his success was quick, and in September, 1720, he found himself in New York as its Governor. His administration was as able and as honest as that of his predecessor, and he made himself immensely popular by his prohibition of trade between the Indians of New York and the merchants in Canada, and he even built a fort at his personal expense to help in protecting the trade of the colony over which he ruled. The Home Government, however, refused to indorse Burnet's course in this instance, but that only added to his personal popularity. He lost it all, however, by the policy he adopted toward the Court of Chancery. Briefly stated, he wanted to make that body independent of public sentiment and above public interference, while Colonial sentiment was that all Judges and all courts should be subject to the control of the people, either directly or through their elected representatives. Things reached such a pass that the Assembly threatened to declare all acts and decrees of the Court of Chancery as null and void, and reduced all its fees as a preliminary step in that direction. The crisis between the Governor and the people was ended, greatly to the former's relief, in 1728, when he was transferred to the Governorship of Massachusetts. He had not much time to make a name for himself there, for he died at Boston in 1729.

Another Scotsman, John Montgomerie, was sworn in as Burnet's successor in the New York Governorship on April 15, 1728. He was a scion of the noble house of Eglinton, being the son of Francis Montgomerie of Giffen, who was a son of Alexander, sixth Earl of Eglinton. John Montgomerie was an officer in the Guards and was a member of Parliament from 1710 to 1722. He occupied a high position in society and married a daughter of the Earl of Hyndford; but his habits were erratic, his tastes extravagant, and he became inextricably involved in debt. His ancestral estate had to be sold and he was glad to accept a minor post at the Court of George I.—the "wee, wee, German lairdie." It was in the hope of benefiting his fortunes that he secured the appointment as the royal representative in New York, but his usefulness was gone. His service as Governor was not marked by any matter of importance. He seemed to he in weak health from the day he landed, and he died July 31, 1731.

If, however, Gov. Montgomerie occupies but a small share in the historical annals of the colony, Gov. Colden, the last of the Scottish Governors, or British Governors, whose executive rights were recognized by the people, had a very important position in public affairs for the fifteen years preceding the Revolution. Cadwallader Colden was born at Dunse in 1688. His father, the Rev. Alexander Colden, was minister of Dunse, and Cadwallader was educated at Edinburgh University, with the view of entering the ministry. His own inclination, however, led him to study medicine, and he appears to have practiced that profession in London. In 1710 he crossed the sea to Philadelphia. His stay there was comparatively short, for we find him again in London in 1715, when he moved in the highest intellectual and literary circles. In 1716 he returned to Scotland and married a Kelso girl, the daughter of a minister, and soon after left his native land again for America. After practicing; medicine for a time in Philadelphia, he visited New York and from the friendship of Gov. Hunter, who invited him to settle in the territory under his jurisdiction. This he agreed to, mainly because Hunter backed up his professions of friendship by the more tangible offer of the position of Surveyor General of the Colony. Two years later Colden had so fortified his position with the ruling powers that he obtained a grant of 2,000 acres of land in Orange County and there built a country home for himself and founded a village, to which he gave the name of Coldenham, which it still retains. His influence was increased after he was appointed, in 1722, a member of His Majesty's Provincial Council, when Gov. Burnet had commenced his rule, and he became that personage's most trusted counsellor. After Burnet went to Boston, Colden retired to. Coldenham, and there interested himself in those literary and scientific pursuits which gave him a prominent position in contemporary learned circles. He had a wide correspondence with scientists on both sides of the Atlantic, and to a suggestion in one of his letters was due the formation of the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia. As a member of Council, however, Colden still continued to be active in the politics of the province, and, as usual, came in for a full share of popular and official criticism and abuse. In 1760, as senior member of Council, he was called upon to administer the Government on the sudden death of Gov. De Lancey. Thereafter, with a few interruptions, he served as Lieutenant Governor until June 25, 1775, when the progress of the Revolution laid him on the shelf by wiping out the royal office. Had Colden thrown in his lot with the Revolutionists, he might have attained a high place in the affections of the leaders of the successful side, but he remained steadfast in his loyalty and to the official oaths he had taken to be faithful to the Home Government, and while his sympathies were always with the people and his views were decidedly against unwarranted State interference and against taxation without representation, he was too old to renounce his allegiance, too near the end of his pilgrimage to change his flag. Besides, he was of the opinion that all the evils which led to the Revolution could be amended by united and firm representation to the sovereign and his immediate advisers, and that, therefore, open rebellion was needless. So when the crash finally came, and his proclamations, promises, explanations, diplomacy, and entreaties proved unavailing, the old Governor retired to a farm near Flushing, L. I., and died of a broken heart a few months later, in September, 1776, when in the eighty-eighth year of his age. After the bitterness of the contemporary struggle had passed away, the public services and brilliant talents of this most accomplished of all New York's royal Governors was more apparent than at the time when he was an actor in the drama of history, and his loyal devotion to the duties of his high office became fully acknowledged on all sides. "Posterity," wrote Dr. O'Callaghan in his "Documentary History of the State of New York," in summing up the life work of Colden, "will not fail to accord justice to the character and memory of a man to whom this country is most deeply indebted for much of its science and for many of its most important institutions, and of whom the State of New York may well be proud." And H. G. Verplanck said: "For the great variety and extent of his learning, his unwearied research, his talents, and the public sphere in which he lived, Cadwallader Colden may justly be placed in a high rank among the most distinguished men of his time." The grandson of Governor Colden was Mayor of Yew York from 1818 to 1821, and in that office had an enviable record.

For a brief period, in 1780, James Robertson was the nominal Governor of New York. He was born in Scotland in 1710, and was a soldier by profession. His record in America, while he held office under his commission as Governor, is not, it must be confessed, a creditable one, and we may dismiss him with the statement that his office as Governor was merely a titular one, and he never assumed legislative functions. He was a soldier pure and simple, and, had the Revolutionists been defeated, might have swayed executive power. But the crisis was virtually passed when he came upon the scene, and we need not follow his doings further than to say that he returned to Britain in safety from the conflict and died in England in 1788.

After the Revolution, the history of the United States presents us with several instances of Scotsmen holding the office of Governor in one of the confederated Commonwealths. Among the earliest of these was Edward Telfair, who was for several years (1786, 1790-3) Governor of Georgia. He was born in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, in 1735, and educated at the Kirkcudbright Grammar School. He left Scotland in 1758, to become agent in America for a commercial house, and, after residing in Virginia and North Carolina, removed, in 1766, to Savannah, Ga., where he engaged in business. When the Revolutionary troubles commenced, he heartily espoused the American side, and became known locally as an ardent advocate of liberty. He was elected in 1778 a delegate to the Continental Congress, and served in that capacity also from 1780 to 1783. In the latter year he was appointed a Commissioner to treat with the Cherokees, then, as before, and long after, a troublesome problem in Georgia. Telfair was regarded as the foremost citizen of his adopted State, and his death, at Savannah, in 1807, was deeply mourned, not only in that Commonwealth, but by all throughout the country who had taken any part in the struggle which gave the Stars and Stripes a place among the flags of the nations. His son, Thomas, who graduated at Princeton in 1805; gave promise of a brilliant career. He was a member of the House of Representatives from 1813 to 1817, and but for his untimely death, in 1818, would doubtless have attained higher honors in his State and in the nation.

A good example of the later Governors is found in W. E. Smith, who in 1877 and in 1879 was elected to the Executive Chair of Wisconsin by large popular votes. Mr. Smith was taken to America when a boy, and his earlier years were spent in the States of New York and Michigan. Finally, he settled at Fox Lake, Wis., where he engaged in business and acquired considerable means. In 1851 he served his first term as a member of the State Legislature, and was Speaker of that body in 1871. On retiring from public life, Governor Smith devoted himself to religious and philanthropic enterprises. He was a member of the Baptist Church, and took a keen interest in its progress, and in all movements for the relief of misery or for improving the moral tone of the community in which he was recognized as a leader. Governor Beveridge of Illinois, Governor Moonlight of Kansas, and Governor Ross of New Mexico, are among the other Governors the Scottish race has furnished to American Commonwealths.

Turning to the history of Canada, we find that one of its earliest rulers was Samuel Veitch, who was Governor of Nova Scotia, and had in many respects the career of a typical Scot abroad. He was born at Edinburgh in 1668, and was the son of a noted Presbyterian minister. After studying at the University of Edinburgh, he passed over to Holland and entered the College of Utrecht. A]-though a clerical career had been proposed for him, his inclinations were for the army, and he attached himself to the Court of William of Orange, and accompanied that Prince to England in 1688. Veitch afterward served with much distinction with the army in Flanders, rose to the rank of Colonel, and returned to England after the peace of Ryswick, in 1697. He next attempted to become a money-maker, and took a deep interest in the Darien scheme, one of the causes of much ill-feeling against the administration of King William in Scotland. He was one of the Councillors of the Darien Colony of Caledonia. He proceeded to Darien in 1698, and when the colony was wiped out by the Spaniards he made his way to the North, and settled at Albany, where he engaged in trading with the Indians, and seems to have been fairly successful, for in 1700 he married Margaret, slaughter of Robert Livingston. For several years his most notable employment was connected with schemes to forcibly wrest Canada from the hands of the French. In 1710, in the course of hostilities, he was appointed Governor of Nova Scotia, and held the office for three years. His duties, however, were military rather than civil, and it seems a pity, for the sake of his personal comfort and fortunes, that he ever saw the province. In 1713 he was removed from his office, was soon after reappointed to it, and again was removed without ceremony. Then he went to Boston and petitioned the crown for a place or a pension, but without meeting with any success; nor were his petitions to the Department of State any more fortunate. He went to England to push his claims in person, but failed to receive either recognition or recompense for his services and losses, and he (lied in London in 1732, a sadly disappointed and broken man. He possessed great ability, was active and conscientious in all the duties which fell to hint, but he was of a stern and unyielding disposition, strong in his prejudices and utterly unfitted by a want of suavity in his manner for making himself popular either with the people or the Court.

James Murray, fifth son of the fourth Lord Elibank, who from 1763 to 1767 was Governor General of Canada, occupies a prominent place in the military and political history of the Dominion. Beginning life as a soldier, he early saw service on the Continent of Europe. He took part in Wolfe's expedition to Quebec. He commanded a brigade at the battle on the Plains of Abraham, and after Quebec had fallen and Wolfe had "died victorious" the command of the city and its forces devolved upon him. He at once put the place in order to meet any attack which might be made upon it. All through the Winter of 1759-60 he continued his preparations, and early in Spring found his charge invested by a French force of 12,000 men, under De Levis, one of the most brilliant of French Generals, while his own available force was barely 3,000. He offered De Levis battle, and in the "second engagement of Quebec," as it has been called, although he lost his guns and did not break the investing lines, he only suffered a loss of 300 men, while the enemy owned up to 1800. This sally, brilliant as it was, severely crippled his resources, and he had a hard, ceaseless, and ever-perplexing struggle to keep the enemy out of Quebec. In spite of the great odds against him, he maintained his position with brilliant success. But the struggle was a terrible one until the strain was relieved when the news came that aid had landed in Canada from Great Britain, and the French forces retreated from before the city. Had Quebec fallen into the hands of the French that Winter the British would have lost Canada, for the time at least. When all danger was past, Murray went to Montreal and there joined Lord Amherst, and with the capitulation soon after of that city the French struggle for the retention of Canada ceased, and it became "one of the fairest gems in the British crown," as some one has truthfully described it.

As Governor General, to which post he was almost immediately appointed, General Murray made a brilliant record. Mr. Henry J. Morgan, in his "Sketches of Celebrated Canadians," says: "During his administration the form of government and the laws to be observed in the new colony were promulgated; the many evils that arose therefrom caused much dissatisfaction among the French people, and Governor Murray did all in his power to alleviate the discontented feeling, but with only partial success. Nevertheless, he won the good will and esteem of the whole French race in Canada, and lost that of a part of his countrymen because he would not conform to their prejudices against the poor natives and those of French origin." On leaving Canada, he served in the army with his accustomed brilliancy in other parts of the world, and refused on one occasion a bribe of one million pounds sterling to surrender Minorca. He died in 1794 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, where rest the remains of so many brilliant Scotsmen whose abilities made them famous in all walks of life.

Another military Governor of Canada who won a brilliant record for his administrative qualities was General Peter Hunter, a brother of the celebrated founder of the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow. He was descended from the same family as Governor Hunter of New York, and was born at Long Calderwood, Lanarkshire, in 1746. Choosing the military *profession, he soon rose steadily and acquitted himself with credit in many hard fought campaigns. When appointed Governor of Upper Canada and Commander in Chief of the Forces, in 1799, he had attained the rank of Lieutenant General, and his appointment is an evidence of the confidence felt in his military and administrative qualities by the British authorities, for the time was one of the most critical in the history of Canada, and the services of a diplomat were needed as much as those of a soldier. Governor Hunter's course in Canada fully justified the confidence of the appointing power. He ruled wisely and well, instituted many improvements in all branches of the Government, and was equally watchful over the contemporary prosperity and the opportunities for future development of the country. But, while constantly reforming the details of government and formulating laws and orders which were designed to benefit the country then and thereafter, and which seem to have been understood and appreciated by the people, Governor Hunter kept a close watch on the defenses and the military resources of his province, and it was while on a tour of inspection of the outposts of Canada that he died, at Quebec, in 1805. His career was in every way an honorable one to himself and his country, and the words on the memorial erected in the English Cathedral at Quebec by his brother, Dr. John Hunter, the famous anatomist, are as truthful as they are fitting: "His life was spent in the service of his King and country. Of the various stations, both civil and military, which he filled, he discharged the duties with spotless integrity, unwearied zeal, and successful abilities."

A volume might he written about the incidents in the career of Sir James H. Craig, the last of the family of Craig of Dalnair, near Edinburgh, who became Governor of Canada in 1807. He was born in 1750 at Gibraltar, where his father held an appointment as Judge. Entering the army in 1763, he received his military training in Gibraltar. He was present at the battle of Bunker Hill, and thereafter took part in most of the American campaigns. In 1794, with the rank of Major General, he went to the Cape of Good Hope, was instrumental in bringing that settlement under British rule, and was appointed its Governor. Thereafter he served for several years with distinction in India, and, as Lieutenant General, had command of the troops in the Mediterranean in 1805. Illness compelled him to retire from active service, but a short interval of rest seemed to recuperate him so much that he accepted the Governorship of Canada. His life there was not an enviable one. His constitution was broken and he suffered terribly from dropsy and a complication of diseases. The country was unsettled, the French and British did not get along harmoniously together, and Craig made a few serious errors—errors which brought upon him much savage abuse. But he meant well, his honesty and patriotism were unimpeachable, and he strove earnestly to benefit the country over which he ruled. Probably had he been in perfect health, had sedition been less ripe, had party spirit less blinded the people to his purpose, he might have succeeded better than he did. They called him an oppressor, and in connection with that charge, directly made, he issued the following pathetic statement: "For what should I oppress you? Is it from ambition? What can you give me? Is it for power? Alas, my good friends, with life ebbing not slowly to its period under the pressure of diseases acquired in the service of my country, I look only to pass what it may please God to suffer to remain of it in the comfort of retirement among my friends. I remain among you only in obedience to the commands of my King. What power can I wish for? Is it then for wealth I would oppress you? Inquire of those who know me whether I regard wealth. I never did when I could enjoy it; it is now of no use to me. To the value of your country laid at my feet I would prefer the consciousness of having, in a single instance, contributed to your happiness and prosperity." Such a man could not remain long misunderstood, and though in some quarters the wrangling and criticism prevailed while he continued at the head of affairs, (and indeed long after,) the true sentiments of the people forced themselves to the front when it was announced that he was about to relinquish his post and leave the country. Addresses of regret were sent to him from all quarters, and on the way to the vessel that was to carry him across the Atlantic a throng took the horses from his carriage and pulled it to the wharf. In the "History of Canada," by Robert Christie, is the following mention of Governor Craig, which, so far as it goes, seems a truthful tribute to some of the excellencies of his character: "Although hasty in temper, he was, like most men who are so far from implacable, and as we have seen, easily reconciled to those who may have incurred his displeasure. Hospitable and princely in his style of living, he was also munificent in his donations to public institutions, and to charitable purposes a generous patron; and, lastly, we shall mention, though not the least of his virtues, a friend to the poor and destitute, none of whom applying at his door ever went away unrelieved."

In one respect, Governor Craig was far ahead of his contemporaries. That was in connection with the land question. He had no faith in the policy which handed over thousands of the most fruitful acres in Canada to adventurers who applied for them, to favorites who believed themselves entitled to such gifts, or to land speculators who grasped what they could, and then made fortunes by selling their gifts of territory. In 1808, as we learn from one report, 179,786 acres were "granted" in Upper Canada; in 1809, 105,624; in 1810, 104,537; and in 1811,  115,586; while in Lower Canada the liberality of the Government was equally marked. Governor Craig protested on every opportunity against this purposeless prodigality, and gave the home authorities at least one very good object lesson illustrative of its result. A new barracks and a military hospital were needed in 1811 for Quebec, but no site was available for their construction. The Government had by that time actually granted away every vacant piece of ground within the walls, and the Governor could only recommend the purchase of a site. In doing so, however, he did not refrain from pointing out the folly of the whole principle of miscellaneous and indiscriminate awarding of the public lands. To actual settlers he did not begrudge an acre, but to no others would he have given a single foot. Governor Craig died in England, in 1812, a year after he left Canada.

Sir James Kempt, a native of Edinburgh, was another noted soldier-Governor of Canada. he fought under Sir Ralph Abercrombie in Egypt, under Sir James H. Craig in the Mediterranean, under Wellington in the Peninsula and at Waterloo, and received many royal honors from his own and the allied sovereigns. In 1820 he succeeded Lord Dalhousie as Governor of Nova Scotia, and eight years later followed the same nobleman in the Governorship of Canada. His administration was an admirable one, and has been commended on all sides. He found the country on the verge of rebellion, and he quelled, gently and without force, all traces of discontent, so that when he retired he left it enjoying the blessings of assured peace and carried with him affectionate addresses from all sorts of public bodies. His death took place at London in 1855.

A very different type of Canadian Governor may be studied in the comparatively quiet, but none the less useful careers of such men as Miles Macdonnel—a native of Inverness, who was born there in 1767, was Lord Selkirk's right-hand man in the Red River Valley Settlement, became Governor of Assiniboia. and died at Port Fortune, on the Ottawa River, in 1828—and of the bulk, in fact, of the Lieutenant Governors of the different Provinces and territories, before and after Confederation. Such names, too, as Lord Dalhousie, Lord Elgin, and Lord Lorne, are indissolubly associated with Canadian history, and that sturdy Scotch soldier, Sir Colin Campbell, a native of Kilninver, tried his hand at the mysteries of civil administration as Governor of Nova Scotia before becoming Governor of Ceylon.

Taken as a whole, the Scotch Governors, royal or otherwise, on this side of the Atlantic, were fairly creditable to, and representative of, the Scot abroad. One or two of the royal appointees were more mercenary in their disposition than anything else—sort of executive Andrew Fairservices; but only one—Robertson—can be classed as, a rascal. The faults which most of them committed were due, in a great measure, to the system under which they were appointed, or to the measures they were to bring about and the policy they were to enforce, all of which were completely at variance with the conditions under which the continent was progressing. This is illustrated in a very significant manner, even in the brief summary contained in this chapter. It will be observed that those Chief Magistrates who came to the United States—to the American Colonies rather—to stay, to make their homes in the new land, to become part and parcel of its citizenship, to throw in their entire future with it, made good executive officers, and have left records which are equally creditable to America and Scotland. Such men as Spottiswood, Johnston, Hamilton, and Colden, for example, still command the admiration of American historical writers, and now that the bitterness of the Revolution has long been buried—let us hope brevet—the fact that they were at one and the same time loyal to the people over whom they ruled and to the sovereign they served is freely admitted. Those who came after the Revolution were invariably noted for their honesty, their superiority to mere party spirit, and for their moderation, their wisdom and their sturdy adherence to the principles of the Constitution and of law and order. Carpet-bag rulers have never been much in favor in America at any part of its history, not even in the South after the war, in the reconstruction period, and they are now unknown in the States, and, with the exception of the direct representative of the sovereign, in the Dominion of Canada.


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